How are asteroid belts and exploration sites generated

T3 Boosting alts are very difficult to scan down. The T3 boats already have a reasonably small signature, but as well as that they often fit ECCM mods which make the scanning signature even harder to scan.

In saying that though, it is possible. In a recent patch (6 months or so ago I think?), they changed these fits to not be unscannable anymore. It still takes a long time to narrow it down though, as you have to usually scan right down to .25AU on the probe radius to get a %100 hit. Where someone is "soloing" and only uncloaking/boosting while they are actually fighting, then you usually only have a limited window, as these fights don't last very long. I guess you're sorta hoping for someone to leave their boosting alt uncloaked, and not watching directional scan. You're also a little bit more likely to be able to scan these down if they are in a bigger fleet fight, which tend to last a lot longer.

Some of these fits are very pimped, and can only be scanned down with :

• a perfectly skilled scanning character. Just the skill names start with Astrometric, plus the Covert Ops ship skill.

• using scanning implants. There is a set called Low Grade Virtue, which is expensive but helps a lot, these go in slots 1 - 5. There are other implants with "prospector" in the name which help too, which go in slots 6, 7 and 8. On the plus side, even though the implants are expensive, the scanning character will usually be very difficult to kill if he stays in a covert ops boat.

• using a covert ops frigate, fitted with two Gravity Capacitor rigs, Sisters Expanded Probe Launcher (or the Tech 2 version), and using the Sisters Combat Probes.

Check out the eve online wiki page http://wiki.eveonline.com/en/wiki/Probing for the full names of skills and implants that will help.

The other thing that having combat scanning probes out will often do is cause the character to cloak the boosting alt back up again, losing them their link bonuses. While it won't net you a ridiculously sweet killmail, just stopping their boost alt from boosting can help a lot in some cases. Sometimes this may be the far easier thing to accomplish. A skilled player with a boosting character will often watch to make sure they only cloak when the scanning probes are closing in. Not everyone who can afford a boosting alt is a skilled player though... :)

This question is a little bit subjective, as "viable" in this game can be very different for some people and not others.

I don't think a freelance spy career is particularly viable, for these reasons :

• Trust. People wouldn't usually trust intel from an outside corp. That said, I guess it might be possible to build a name for yourself, and get known. This would seem extremely difficult in this game, as it is well known for the scams that people run, and therefore usually people will automatically distrust intel from outside of their corp.

• There is no real way to guarantee you'd get paid. They would either have to trust that you'd supply the goods if they pay in advance, or you'd have to trust that they'd pay after you've given the goods if they pay after. Contracts that i've seen don't seem to cover this situation at all.

• Most people in demand of such intel run their own intelligence gathering. Corps who are roaming will nearly always put one of their members as a scout to get "quick" intel, which is basically just who is in system, what they're in, and where they are. This intel is nearly always just ships, so will only stay current for a couple of minutes. Corps who need intel that lasts for longer are more likely to have their intelligence arm, which consists of people who sit in hostile systems and watch comings and goings, or spies who actually join the hostile corporation and get intel such as Teamspeak/Vent details, and where and when they are going to deploy in what ships, also possibly with an eye to steal anything that isn't nailed down.

I would suggest what you probably want to do is just join a corp who roams frequently in your timezone, build up their trust, and offer to scout roams. Some corps around will probably offer you free ships to scout their roams if you do this and are good enough at it.

Either that, or be a proper thief-spy. Join a corp, build up their trust, get a position of influence and access in the corporation, then steal everything that isn't nailed down.